Return to Reality
by ABlueIndividual
Summary: Eric has always been quite "dreamy", but never did he expect such a state of mind to have this effect on himself.


**Return to Reality**

Eric sighed as he settled down against his pillows and Ariel wrapped her arm across his chest, leaning her head against his shoulder and her body along his arm, as she happily closed her eyes. It had been yet another amazing day, Eric thought. Nothing really out of the ordinary; he and Ariel had gone to town, and then to the beach, neither of which were irregular occurances, but even after they'd been together for just over a year, Ariel had failed to turn visits to either into trips that he'd grown tired of. Plus, this was the first time that they'd gone on one of their outings since they'd returned home from their wedding a few days ago, so that had made it feel more special to Eric, and Ariel had told him she felt the same way. Perhaps also because of how it'd had been a while since they'd gone to town (by their standards at least), Ariel had been as lively as ever throughout today's visit, pulling Eric along with her as she ran from shop to stall with a spring in each step, almost as if she hadn't been there in years.

To this day, Eric still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have Ariel in his life. It had been more than a year since she had saved him from that shipwreck and re-entered his world a few days later, yet he still found it hard to process that someone so passionate, so caring, so _loving_ , could exist. Ariel often told Eric how wonderful he was, but Eric knew that if that word applied to anyone, it applied to her. She saw the good in everything, even the most mundane, everyday things that no one else would bat an eye over. She was always willing to give everyone a chance to prove themselves, and always went out of her way to give comfort or support whenever she could.

 _She_ was the wonderful one. Eric couldn't put it into words how much he loved her, and how much she'd changed his life for the better. Made it worth living. And again, this was the sort of effect that Ariel told Eric he'd had on her, but Eric couldn't quite see it. He was proud that he had somehow done so, certainly, but she was already so enthusiastic, thoughtful and bold, that he thought it impossible to improve her existence in any way. She'd shown him the wonders of the world, and just what he felt like to be in love.

Eric wrapped his arms around his wife and leant down a little to kiss her forehead. "I love you, Ariel," he whispered.

Ariel's smile broadened, and she opened her eyes to look up at her husband, "I love you too, Eric," she replied, moving forward to kiss him on the lips.

As she did so, Eric felt even happier, as he did every time she said those words to him. He knew she loved him, of course, but that didn't stop his life from improving that much more each time she told him. It was the most glorious, wondrous thing for him to just think about: Ariel loved him.

"Goodnight," she said softly to him, after they'd parted and she'd leant down against his chest, "Sweet dreams."

Eric closed his eyes blissfully. "Goodnight," he replied, and he happily drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Eric awoke the next morning to find that Ariel must have slipped off of his chest during the night, for he didn't feel the warm weight against him that had been there when he fell asleep the night before and nearly every time he woke up for the past week since their wedding night, for it had only been since then that Grimsby had stopped deeming it "improper" that they share a bed.

Eric rubbed his eyes and looked beside him, expecting to see Ariel lying asleep, but to his surprise, she wasn't there. He chuckled a bit as he stretched and started to get out of bed; she must have returned to her old desire to start each day as early as possible. This did strike him as a bit peculiar though; yesterday had been one of the rare ocassions that she had not only managed to exhaust herself, but also came close to admitting that she did in fact feel a little tired. The prince shrugged it off cheerfully as he made his way to his bathroom to get washed up.

However, as he arrived in the dining hall a short while later, he was surprised again to see that Ariel was absent. Only Grimsby was there, reading his newspaper as he waited for breakfast.

"Morning, Grim," Eric greeted his elderly mentor.

"Good morning, Eric," replied Grimsby, giving him a brief nod and smile as he looked up from his newpaper.

"Have you seen Ariel?" the young prince asked, as he arrived at the table and pulled out his chair to sit down.

"Ariel? Who's Ariel?"

Eric stopped pulling his chair closer to the table, snapping his head up to look at Grimsby. "What do you mean, "Who's Ariel", Grim?"

"Well, I don't think you've told me about this "Ariel", Eric. Is he or she a friend?"

Eric just stared at Grimsby in silence for a moment, unsure what to even think about what he had just asked. "Grimsby," he finally said, slowly, "Ariel's my _wife_."

Grimsby lowered his eyebrows in confusion, "Your _wife_? Eric, what are you talking about?"

"What am I... Grim, she's-" Eric stuttered, lost for words, before Carlotta entered the room with a tray of food.

"Ah, good morning, darling. Just in time for breakfast," she smiled as she placed the tray down on the table.

"Morning, Carlotta," said Eric, quite shortly, "Hey, have _you_ seen Ariel?"

Carlotta looked up, "Ariel, dear? Who's that?"

Eric couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Ariel! You know, we got married just a week ago?"

"Married? Eric, what are you talking about?" asked Carlotta, echoing Grismby's words.

Eric again remained silent for a moment, glancing back and forth between Carlotta and Grimsby, as a horrible thought suddenly entered his mind. "How... how old am I?" he questioned them at last.

"You're seventeen, dear," answered Carlotta, "Turning eighteen in less than a week."

Eric's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "S-seventeen?" he stammered fragilely. But... he'd met Ariel when he was eighteen. And that had been a year ago now, hadn't it?

No, he thought to himself. No, no, no. This couldn't be right. This couldn't be happening.

"Eric?" Grimsby's voice came, "Is everything alright?"

Eric couldn't speak for a moment. "Yeah," he finally managed to choke out, "I just... I..." he started breathing quite heavily.

"I had a dream," he whispered, his words coming much to his own horror.

To his utter astonishment, Grimsby and Carlotta both started chuckling.

"What? What are you laughing at?" gasped Eric quite loudly.

"Oh, Eric," laughed Carlotta, "You've gotten to the point where you're dreaming about your perfect girl."

Eric stared. It was bizarrely uncharacteristic for Carlotta to make a joke about anyone's misery, let alone his, and the fact that she had done so in such a way was quite hurtful.

"Ah, don't worry, Eric," put in Grimsby, "Remember our meeting with Glowerhaven's monarchy tomorrow. You know their princess is quite lovely. Certainly not like the others, just wanting to marry the prince."

Eric couldn't stand it any longer. He was barely paying attention to Grimsby; his thoughts had returned to she who was quite literally his dream girl.

"I... I feel sick," he mumbled, still gasping for breath, "I can't eat breakfast right now, I'm sorry."

And with that he fled from the hall, not stopping until he'd reached his room and shut the door behind him. He stood against it for a moment, before rushing to his bathroom and looking in the mirror. To his horror, he did indeed look like he had when... well, around the time when she had rescued him. Or, when he thought she had.

Eric staggered back into his bedroom. He couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't. That "dream" had actually felt like real time; more than a year long. Surely, dreams couldn't be that long, could they? He desperately wanted to convince himself this, but... to his dismay, he remembered Carlotta once telling him that dreams could in fact feel like any length of time, long or short. So... yes, they could really feel like they lasted a year.

Eric quickly backed up against the wall to help support himself, but he found himself unable to stand for another minute more and he slipped down to the floor as he buried his face in his hands.

Ariel didn't exist.

Eric wanted to cry, but for some reason, perhaps purely because he was too shocked, he wasn't able to. This was unfair. It was unfair on Ariel herself that she didn't get to be real. That such an amazing human being, or mermaid, didn't exist, that she was exclusive to a dream. Maybe he should have figured it out, that she was too good to be true. Too wonderful to be real. And then there were the events that had apparently brought her to this world. Eric hated to admit it, but it all made sense. He had always believed in mermaids, and to this day, he could have sworn he'd seen one before (even Grimsby had a few times brought up the day when Eric was sure he'd caught a glance of a mermaid from his ship), but until Ariel had arrived he'd never before imagined that fish and crabs could talk, or that some sort of monstrous human-octopus hybrid existed.

The prince let out a deep, somber sigh as he pulled his hands away from his face. "Why?" he asked, despite knowing he wouldn't recieve an answer, "Why did this have to happen?"

* * *

The day, surprisingly enough, had gone by quite quickly for Eric. He was now walking along the beach near the castle where he had come so many times with Ariel. Or rather, he'd thought he had. He'd been to town earlier too. He wasn't sure why he had decided to, but he had done so regardless and it had been a thoroughly miserable time. Everything had reminded him of Ariel, which would have made him happy in his dream-life, but for rather obvious reasons, just made him feel terrible now.

It was getting dark as Eric arrived back home, and he looked up as he approached the palace's docks. His ship there seemed quite different, and it took him a minute to realise that it was the one that, in his dream, had been destroyed in the storm that Ariel saved him from. There it was, like nothing had happened to it. Which, of course, was because nothing _had_ happened to it. And even though that had been a part of his dream that he'd almost died in, Eric still desperately wished that it had actually happened.

As the young prince entered his castle and started making his way up to his bedroom, he had never felt so alone in his life. In both his dream and reality, the loss of his parents and lack of enough confidence to make friends had constantly made him feel like he was on his own, even though he had Carlotta and Grimsby there for him. When Ariel arrived, she had caused such feelings to subside for him. But she wasn't here now, and he was experiencing loneliness like he never had before. No one was here for him now, not even Carlotta and Grimsby, who before the dream would usually would be there for him when he needed comforting, but not today for some strange reason.

Eric went into his room and got changed into his night shirt, before looking out of the window to the sea that his dream girl had once inhabited before joining him on the land. He still wanted to cry and let some of his anguish flow out, but he still found himself unable to for some reason. Was he in too much pain to even cry?

It truly was unfair, and not just on Ariel, but on him too. It was more than unfair; it was cruel. He'd actually thought he'd experienced true love. He'd been convinced that he'd finally met someone who loved him for who he was and wasn't just interested in him because he was a prince. It really was cruel that his dream girl had been just that. Because if he'd learnt anything from her, it was that he didn't deserve to feel so unhappy and so alone. He was a good person, and even though he stood by it that she was even more wonderful than she thought he was, he'd still come to realise, thanks to her, that he was better than he thought he was before, and even for a while after, he'd met her.

Eric climbed into bed and lay back, realising he felt quite cold without Ariel's slender arms wrapped lovingly around him in a warm hug. She may have been a dream, but it was definitely going to take a long time to get over her. For the first time, Eric had begun to feel as if the perfect girl wasn't out there waiting for him somewhere, as he didn't think it was possible for him to find someone like Ariel. She had been the one. Dream or not, she had been the one to show him what it was like to love, and to be loved, and she had made him feel so much more worthful than he ever could have imagined.

"Thank you, Ariel," he whispered, and he fell into the first of what he was sure would be many unhappy sleeps.

* * *

Eric woke up the next morning upon hearing Carlotta enter his room and call to him. He was feeling much too drowsy to hear much of what she said; he only managed to make out "...time to get up!" before she left again.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes, slowly starting to push himself into a sitting position. But as he did so, he felt someone's arm drape across his chest, gently pushing him back down again, followed by a kiss on the cheek as his head landed back on his pillow.

"Good morning," came a soft, angelic voice.

Eric blinked, and slowly turned his head to his right.

Ariel.

She still had her eyes shut, but she was smiling her beautiful smile as she gently hugged him to her.

Eric gazed at her for a moment, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "Ariel?"

She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. Upon seeing him gazing at her, she cocked her head slightly. "Eric, are you okay?"

Eric began to laugh a little. "You're real," he whispered as he brought his hand to her cheek, "You're really real!"

Ariel furrowed her eyebrows, "Yes, I'm real," she acknowledged, confused but amused, "I thought we'd established that quite a while ago."

Eric laughed again before he kissed her deeply. Ariel was surprised by this, but nonetheless accepted it gladly, until Eric pulled away suddenly and sat up.

"You're here," he said, a bit calmer now, taking one of Ariel's hands in his own as she sat up next to him.

"Eric," she laughed softly, pushing some of her hair out of her face with her free hand, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," beamed Eric, before he leant down slightly so their faces were level, and took her face in his hands, "Yes, I'm fine, I'm perfect. Perfect, like you!"

Ariel giggled. As sweet and romantic as Eric often was, she had never seen him act quite like this before, but she was certainly enjoying it. "Thank you," she said to him, pleased.

"Thank _you_ ," replied Eric, sincerely, "Thank you for everything."

Ariel continued smiling, but had to ask, "Eric, what's going on?"

Eric's smile faded a little. He always disliked having to explain his nightmares to Ariel as he didn't want to worry her, but she had insisted that he tell her about them as she always wanted to be there for him as he was her. "I had a dream," he responded quietly.

"Oh, yeah?" said Ariel, "Was it a nice one then?"

"No." Eric shook his head, "No, it was a terrible one. The worst I've ever had."

Ariel looked confused, "Then why-"

"Because it didn't happen," said Eric quickly, "It was just a dream."

"What was it about?" asked Ariel slowly, although based on what Eric had been saying a few moments ago, she had a feeling she already knew.

Eric swallowed, "I dreamt that _you_ had been a dream," he answered quietly, "That I woke up one day before we met and none of this had ever happened. I felt so awful, Ariel. I... I felt scared. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have you in my life. I love you so much."

After a moment of silence for both of them to let his words sink in, Ariel gently pulled Eric into a hug. "I love you too," she told him, after a moment of just holding each other, before slowly pulling back to face him again and lean her forehead against his, "And don't you worry, Eric. I'm really here, and I'm always going to be here with you. You're never going to have to be without me, I promise."

Eric sighed, feeling much like he had last night, only now with some much needed comfort having been given to him. As unusually peppy as he had felt upon discovering that his dream had been just that and Ariel was very much real, the fact that the dream had felt so real had quickly come back to him and shook him up a bit. But Ariel had yet again eased his mind in a way that no one else could. Once again, the young prince found it impossible to put into words how much he loved his amazing wife, so he just leaned forward and kissed her as they held each other.

Once they parted, Eric smiled at Ariel, "You're the wonderful one," he stated.

" _The_ wonderful one?" questioned Ariel.

"Yeah," replied Eric, "You always tell me how wonderful you think I am, but each time I just think _you're_ the wonderful one. You've shown me how great everything in the world can be, and you've shown me what love really feels like. You make me feel complete."

"And you make me feel complete in the same ways," smiled Ariel, "so I guess that means we're both pretty wonderful."

Eric grinned, "Yeah, I like the sound of that."

And they both leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, I know it was obvious it was a dream. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe I just thought it was obvious because I wrote the story and I knew what was going to happen? Eh well. I wanted to get this one up yesterday, but _Proving a Point_ took a bit longer than I expected, and I had a bit of trouble with this one's ending. I kept re-doing it because every time I wrote something, I thought either "Well, that's kind've a weak place to end it", "No, that's a bit too out of character", or "Okay, that's just too cliché." This is particularly ironic because if I recall correctly, the first moment that I had specifically planned out in my head _was_ when Eric wakes up and realises it was a nightmare, and I didn't even use what I originally had. The one I've ended up using is quite a bit different, and I don't know if it's as strong as it could be, but ultimately I thought it was sweet enough and much better than what I originally had. Fluff always saves the day. **

**So this basically came about as I wanted to do a story that specifically focused on how much Ariel means to Eric, and I felt that my other stories about the two had more focus on Ariel's thoughts. And I really liked this idea, I thought it would be interesting and really useful in demonstrating how Eric thinks of Ariel and himself. But did it turn out well? Leave me a review to share your answer; all comments are welcome. Thank you very much for reading, hope you enjoyed, remember to check out the stories of my other reviewers, and I'll see you all next time. Bye!**


End file.
